“Camp Quiet”
Every year Brian Cashman jokingly wishes for what he calls “Camp Quiet”. Last year the Yankees certainly did not have “Camp Quiet” in spring training as there was a huge media buzz surrounding Alex Rodriguez about his admission of steroid use, his spring training press conference, and his hip surgery. Another huge attention-grabber was the lack of the Yankees presence in the 2008 postseason, the first time they missed the playoffs since 1993 (’94 there were no playoffs due to the MLB strike). Questions were swirling about camp on whether the Yankees would be able to rebound from a poor season, how the spending of $423M in the offseason would impact the team, and the effects of the new stadium. This year, there seems to be very few distractions in the Yankees spring training camp. There was no huge offseason spedning spree, no big scandal during the offseason. It seems as if Cashman has finally gotten the “Camp Quiet” that he has been hoping for.
The biggest media buzz surrounding the Yankees camp this February isn’t something that occured this offseason, or even last season. In fact, it is something that didn’t occur at all, and that is the contract negotiations of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Joe Girardi. With this being the Yankees sole “distraction” during spring training it looks as though the Yankees will be able to focus explicitly on baseball, the way spring training should be. Brian wrote a nice post on the subject of Jeter, Rivera, and Girardi yesterday and he seems to feel that the “issue” is really a non-issue. I happen to agree with Brian’s feelings on the subject and apparently, so does Derek Jeter.
Today Derek Jeter held a press conference to kick off his spring stay in Tampa. As expected, the majority of the questions were focused on his contract situation. The first question of the press conference alluded to the concerns that Derek may have about his bargaining power and his contract situation after the 2010 season. Derek’s response set the tone for the press conference as he responded with “I’ve never gone into a season focused on the next season. My approach since day one is do whatever you can in order to help the team win in that particular year”. The next question was about how important it is for Jeter to finish his career with the Yankees. Derek’s response: “Its always been important, Ive said that from day one. This is the only organization I’ve ever wanted to play for and that still is true today…. I’ve never envisioned myself playing anywhere else.” Just from the first two questions in the press conference it became immediately clear that Derek wants to spend the rest of his career in New York. This should provide Yankees fans comfort. Jeter is the captain of the Yankees and is one of the most well-respected players in baseball.
Derek’s focus on winning and his desire to stay in New York should prove important in the negotiations that will follow the 2010 season. I’ve always expected that if the situation presented itself, Derek would take a contract that is favorable to the Yankees organization. As the face of the franchise, Jeter is focused on winning and if he can help the team out by taking a lower salary to stay in New York and allow the Yankees to have financial freedom to pursue top-notch free agents, he will do so. My thoughts were confirmed later in the press conference when Derek was asked if he had any desire 
to be the highest payed Yankee. “My desire is to stay here… We haven’t sat down to negotiate anything but that thought hasn’t crossed my mind, thats not what I play for. I play in order to try to help this team win. That’s what I’ve always done and my feeling is that everything will take care of itself.” said Jeter.
Throughout the press conference Jeter made it clear that he was not thinking about his contract situation. Derek also stated that this was the only time, until after the season, that he was addressing his contract situation. By now it is well known Derek isn’t a big player into the media. He tries to distance himself from controversy and avoid distractions. When asked if he could conceive his contract situation becoming a distraction over the course of the season Derek replied “No, because, like I said, I’m not going to discuss a contract for next season after today. This is the last time I’m going to talk about it because I think it is unfair to be talking about myself when we are trying to win.”
After listening to the press conference it is clear that Derek intends on staying in New York and will make sure that this situation does not pose a distraction to himself or the team during the 2010 season. Yankees fans who had any doubt about Derek’s future should take solace after today’s press conference. Like Jeter said, the situation will iron itself out and I have no doubt that he will be in pinstripes not only in 2011 but for years to come.
A few interesting notes from today’s press conference. Derek said the his agent, Casey Close, approached Yankees execs in the offseason to see if it would be possible to discuss Jeter’s contract. The Yankees, however, declined due to their policy that contract negotiations will not take place until after the season of the final year of the contract. Derek said that he understands the Yankees policy and has absolutely no problems with it. One notable thing during the press conference, that was not realated to Derek’s contract, was his feelings on how the “core four” could convey a message to first-time champs about not getting complacent. Derek responded with “The message is that last year is over… You can’t say that teams try to beat you more because I think teams always try to beat us… Let’s try to accomplish something this year, something that we haven’t done and we haven’t won a championship in 2010″. Hopefully, after the 2010 season the Yankees will be able to say that they won a championship in 2010.
What are your thoughts on Derek Jeter’s future? Will he stay in New York? Will he take a paycut? If he does stay in New York, how long will his contract be for?
Photo courtesy of Zimbio.com
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